Ice storm leaves 500K without power in US, Canada

December 25, 2013

Trees frozen in ice cripple a section of power lines on Maplehurst Drive in Belgrade, Maine, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2013. From Michigan to Maine, hundreds of thousands remain without power days after a massive ice storm _ which one utility called the largest Christmas-week storm in its history -- blacked out homes and businesses in the Great Lakes and Northeast. (AP Photo/The Central Maine Morning Sentinel, Michael G. Seamans)

Repair crews worked around the clock to restore power to nearly half a million customers who faced a cold and dark Christmas in parts of the central and northeastern United States and into eastern Canada after a weekend ice storm. At least 24 deaths have been linked to the storm.

It appears the bad weather isn't ready to take a break. The U.S. National Weather Service said more snow is forecast to roll into the Great Lakes and Midwest by Wednesday morning.

In Canada, five people were reported dead from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning. Police said two people in Ontario died after using a gas generator to heat their blacked-out home northeast of Toronto. Police in Quebec said carbon monoxide poisoning was believed to be the cause of three deaths in a chalet on the province's North Shore. Earlier, five people were killed in eastern Canada in highway crashes blamed on severe weather conditions.

In the U.S., the nationwide death toll from the storm reached at least 14 on Tuesday, when a 50-year-old man in Knox, Maine, was overcome by carbon monoxide fumes from a generator. It was the second reported death attributed to fumes from a generator during the storm. Police in Michigan also attributed two deaths in a traffic collision that happened Monday to the storm.

As temperatures plunged into the low single digits (below minus 15 Celsius) in Toronto —where nearly 80,000 customers remained without power late Tuesday—authorities reported a dramatic jump in calls for suspected carbon monoxide poisoning, responding to 110 calls in a 24-hour period. Officials said they typically see 20 such calls a day.

"We're looking at approximately six times as many calls," Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said as the city issued an extreme cold weather alert. "I understand they want to keep warm but you cannot do this. This is deadly."

Andrew Powers, an arborist with Asplundh Tree Experts, clears iced branches from power lines along Mayflower Heights Drive in Waterville, Maine, on Monday, Dec. 23, 2013. Central Maine Power said nearly 57,000 were without power Monday afternoon, up from 29,000 it had been reporting earlier. Hardest hit was Kennebec County with about 20,000 and Waldo County at nearly 15,000 customers without power. (AP Photo/Morning Sentinel, Michael G. Seamans)

Fire officials warned residents not to use any appliance that burns inside a home, and even cautioned against using a lot of candles.

In Toronto, where 300,000 customers lost power at the height of the storm, crews from Ottawa, Windsor, Manitoba and Michigan were helping local teams with their efforts.

Trees and power lines grow heavy with ice as freezing rain continues into Monday morning, Dec. 23, 2013, in Cambridge, Vt. From Michigan to Maine, hundreds of thousands remain without power days after a massive ice storm -- which one utility called the largest Christmas-week storm in its history _ blacked out homes and businesses in the Great Lakes and Northeast. (AP Photo/Burlington Free Press, Emily McManamy)

Elsewhere in Ontario, more than 44,000 customers were still without power early Wednesday. In Quebec, some 28,000 customers remained without power. In New Brunswick, just over 29,000 customers were still in the dark, and about 300 were without power in Nova Scotia.

Carla Coulter, 46, of Clio, holds her 1-year-old grandson Connor Hergert closely as she gives him a kiss on the forehead while listening to the FirstMerit Bank Mixed Chorus sing "Silent Night" along with about 100 spectators during the 76th Annual Holiday Sing on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2013 at FirstMerit Bank in downtown Flint, Mich. "We don't have power. We're warming up, and I just feel so very blessed to have my family," Coulter said. "I don't need anything else." (AP Photo/The Flint Journal, Jake May)

Canadian utility officials warned that some customers could be without power until Saturday.

Some U.S. states kept emergency shelters open for people without power.

The number of customers in Maine without power spiked to more than 100,000 on Tuesday. Central Maine Power said its goal was to use more than 1,000 workers to restore power for all customers by Thursday night, while other utilities in Maine warned customers they could be without electricity until Friday.

Jake Baldino, left, and Mick Benbow of K & T Electric of DeWitt replace an electrical box and pole to a home in DeWitt Township, Mich., Monday, Dec. 23, 2013. From Michigan to Maine, hundreds of thousands remain without power days after a massive ice storm -- which one utility called the largest Christmas-week storm in its history -- blacked out homes and businesses in the Great Lakes and Northeast. (AP Photo/Lansing State Journal, Greg DeRuiter)

That was the case, too, in Michigan, where Jackson-based Consumers Energy—the state's largest utility—said it hadn't had this many outages during any Christmas week since its founding 126 years ago. Close to 17 percent of its 1.8 million electric customers lost power during the storm that hit late Saturday; roughly 152,000 remained without it Tuesday.

At their home outside Flint, Michigan, John Potbury and his family of four lost electricity at 6 a.m. Sunday and since then they have been living in a single bedroom warmed by generator-powered space heaters.

Lights on the Christmas tree were dark, of course, but there was no power to the freezer, either. "Even though the house is freezing cold, the freezer items were starting to thaw out," Potbury said.

Utility crews respond to a downed power line at the intersection of Dorset Street and Kennedy Drive in South Burlington, Vt., on Monday, Dec. 23, 2013. From Michigan to Maine, hundreds of thousands remain without power days after a massive ice storm _ which one utility called the largest Christmas-week storm in its history -- blacked out homes and businesses in the Great Lakes and Northeast. (AP Photo/Burlington Free Press, Glenn Russell)

That wasn't the greatest concern, however, for his kids, 8-year-old Jacob and 5-year-old Jackson. Potbury said he told them Tuesday, "Santa runs on reindeer power, not electricity, so he should be OK."

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Just to show that the monkeys had more motivation to get to the moon first because other monkeys night, and so they did, than to fix the ridiculous wire-transmitted electrical power system back home for lesser monkeys. Oh, the lesser monkeys had no objections, ideas, nor political influence at all to change the status quo, while still hookwinked to keep paying through the nose to the greater monkeys for the same defective system- 150+ years after it is invented! Pathetic.

Just to show that the monkeys had more motivation to get to the moon first because other monkeys night, and so they did, than to fix the ridiculous wire-transmitted electrical power system back home for lesser monkeys. Oh, the lesser monkeys had no objections, ideas, nor political influence at all to change the status quo, while still hookwinked to keep paying through the nose to the grea ter monkeys for the same defective system- 150+ years after it is invented! Pathetic.

Your post reads like it was typed by only 1000 monkeys for only 1000 years.

Farmers and others seem better prepared this time. If you want to compare with the even worse ice storm of 1998, after which some were without power for 3 weeks, here are some links: http://www2.macle...of-1998/

when i was just a young man, i shared a trailer with three other people. during the winter we ran out of propane and couldn't afford to have the tank filled. we used a weber charcoal barbecue pit in the kitchen. those were the days...

So there is no one here stupid enough to claim the ice storm is proof there is global cooling, it must have sunk in by now with more energy in the system there will be a greater frequency of diverse weather, not just extremes but, of many types.

Yet, in the month or so I have asked, why shouldn't so much extra CO2 coming from approx 230,000L of petrol burned each sec worldwide cause no warming (or additional energy in the climatic system), all seem struck dumb.

Obviously it is cumulative but, it is not addressed or discussed rationally, either people ignore it or claim I am a chicken little but, in doing so fail to offer any mechanism.

Thermal properties of CO2 are well known & easily demonstrated.

Yes it is so difficult for those of simple expectations that the emissions of very large amounts of CO2 over a short period of some 200 years results in only a small temp rise.

Mike, you're so right. It's amazing how many Australians believe in "global cooling" or Al Gore's conspiracy agenda. I can't even read the comments on Perth Now or news.com.au about weather events anymore!

Another AGW signal! Absolutely. I lived through one that dropped a near record 1.2" of ice on everything and it shut down everything for a week. The ice was so heavy it dropped entire trees. Power was off for a week+, and the only thing that kept people fed was four-wheeler to Safeway.

I just can't believe the AGW deniers don't see that ICE storms are caused by warm upper air rain storms, falling through cold near surface air as freezing rain. It could have been caused by GOD but I doubt it. It could have been caused by global-warming and that may have had an influence. It just seems odd that as Global warming temp's increase so do the occurrences of these mega ice storms.

It just seem that the deniers are always missing an aspect of the truth in their rants.

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